1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to coin telephones sometimes referred to as telephone paystations and more particularly to apparatus for inhibiting or frustrating the efforts of vandals or thieves, who in order to obtain coins from such telephones stuff cloth, paper, etc. into the coin deposit or lead in chute, returning after sometime to collect those coins that have been lodged in the chute because of the previous stuffing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A continuing problem in the field of coin telephones is the effort to abscond with deposited coins by stuffing the lead in or coin deposit chute with cloth, paper or similar material into the coin slot. When this is done the coins that are deposited subsequently are caught behind the stuffing and cannot be retrieved by operating the coin release lever. The thief then with a wire or similar instrument either pulls out the stuffing or manipulates it so the coins fall into the coin return chute and subsequently pockets the coins.
In the design of coin acceptor-rejecters as utilized in those telephones manufactured by GTE Communication Systems Corporation as well as in many of the acceptor-rejecters employed in other coin operated devices, no successful design has been created to overcome the previously outlined problem. The present problem did not develop until the use of the single slot paystation became widely accepted. Prior to that the multiple coin slot units employed in most coin telephones were not subject to the problem of coin stuffing. The subject invention is designed for industry standard acceptor-rejecters as manufactured by the CoinCo Corporation and those manufactured by Coin Accepters Incorporated.